The Arizona sentinel., 1887-03-19
DIAMoND.oUrTlNe.
A Particular Work Almost Wholly in tke
 Hands of Amsterdam Israelltes.

| A Particular Work Almost Wholly in the Hands of Amsterdam Israelltes.
 All the employees in every one of the
 diamond-cutting establishments in the city of Amsterdam are 1sraelites. It is
 well known fact that this city is the
 center and principal place where dia
 mond-cutting is followed. Every re- nowned gem of the first water has been
 cut by an Amsterdamer expert either in this city or somewhere else.
 The KOh-i-noor was cut in London,
 but Holland Jew, MT. Vogelsang, an employe of the diamond-cutting firm of Coster Bros, did the work, and it re- mains a lasting regret among connois- seurs, that his judgment as to the cutting of this Mound of Light was not followed. Mir. Vogelsang is at
 present past the eightieth milestone upon the roadway of life, but is enthusiastic upon the diamond subject and proudly shows the visitor an autographic letter of Queen Victoria, in which the poor Jew of Amsterdam is thanked for his skilful manipulation of stone valued then at S700,0 The letter was accompanied by pres ent worthy of the high position of the writer and MT. Vogelsang's bank ac- count was opened with deposit of $4,OOO. The old gentleman's eyes shine like stones of high degree when telling that he received sn order from the King of Holland to proceed to Lon don for the purpose of cutting the largest diamond the world ever heard of and to remember that the reputation of the Amsterdam lapidaries was in his keeping.
 According to authentic records the existence of the Koh-i-noor was known in 1904 beyond the shadow of a doubt, but traditions honored with belief in the families of Princes in British India carry it back fifty centuries. When MT. Vogelsang took the precious gem in his hands for the first time it weighed 1S6 1-16 carats. He commenced the cutting July 6, 1852, and reduced the weight of the stone precisely fifty carats, it being 136 1-16 carats when the operation was finished.
 The old gentleman has been pen stoned by the firm his skill has made famous in the mercantile and scientific world, but his highest pleasure consists in talking ''diamonds' to visitors. A few years before his retirement from actual labor he was sent for by the Empress of the Russians, and exam ined ill Moscow an uncut gem present. ed to the Czarlna by Tartar noble man and weighing ninety-seven casats. At Mir Vogelsang's advice the stone was sent to Amsterdam to be cut by him, and for seven months he labored faithfully to execute task said to have been the most marvellous exhibi- tiOn of lapidary's genius. In the employ of the firm was a Polish young man of great promise as a skilful manipulator of gems, who assisted in the difficult feat of smoothing the facets of the precious stone. Every night when the days labor was concluded the valuable article was returned to the hands of one of the firm who had it in custody when it was not on the bench. One morning, when it was being placed on the revolving disk and MT. Vogelsang was in the act of com mencing his labors upon it, he fell to the floor in faint. All was commotion in the workshop, and when brought to con sciousness the old diamond-cutter's first words were: My God, it is crystal" The gem belonging to Russia's Em- press, valued at $500, 900, given into the custody of the largest diamond firm in the world, had turned into a piece of glass. Investigation proved that the gem at that moment in the possession of the firm was crystal and worth about five guldens, but that the Polish assist ant had aided the simon-pure article to leave the moisty atmosphere of the of the Netherlands. In the English as she is spoke" by Mir. ''He was stolen entirely, Great was the excitement in the dia- mond centers of civilization. Tel egraphic wires grew hot conveying de- scriptions of gem and thief into every police office of the Old World. For five | days all trace of the Polish exile with l his Russian possession was lost, when at eleven clock of the sixth night the electric messenger brought Mir. Vo- gelsang the cheerful intelligence that the compatriot of Kosciusko had been | in the Jardin Mahille in sin | ful Paris, and that he had the diamond | in his pocket. MT. Vogalsang says he "bursted with joy," and nobody | doubts. s.-AnlSterda Cor. MiLUduEee 
 A Graaf Gem m 1 nndnn